U+AD6C, 구
HANGUL SYLLABLE GU
Composition: +

[U+AD6B]
Hangul Syllables
[U+AD6D]
See also: -구- and -구

(see above for verbal suffixes)

See also:


굿

교 ←→ 궈

Korean

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Etymology 1

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Sino-Korean word from (nine).

Pronunciation

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Romanizations
Revised Romanization?gu
Revised Romanization (translit.)?gu
McCune–Reischauer?ku
Yale Romanization?kwu

Numeral

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Korean numbers (edit)
90
 ←  8 9 10  → 
    Native isol.: 아홉 (ahop)
    Native attr.: 아홉 (ahop)
    Sino-Korean: (gu)
    Hanja:
    Ordinal: 아홉째 (ahopjjae)

(gu) (hanja )

  1. (Sino-Korean numeral) nine
Usage notes
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In modern Korean, numbers are usually written in Arabic numerals.

The Korean language has two sets of numerals: a native set of numerals inherited from Old Korean, and a Sino-Korean set which was borrowed from Middle Chinese in the first millennium C.E.

Native classifiers take native numerals.

Some Sino-Korean classifiers take native numerals, others take Sino-Korean numerals, while yet others take both.

Recently loaned classifiers generally take Sino-Korean numerals.

For many terms, a native numeral has a quantifying sense, whereas a Sino-Korean numeral has a sense of labeling.

  • 반(班) (se ban, three school classes, native numeral)
  • 반(班) (sam ban, Class Number Three, Sino-Korean numeral)

When used in isolation, native numerals refer to objects of that number and are used in counting and quantifying, whereas Sino-Korean numerals refer to the numbers in a more mathematical sense.

  • 하나 주세 (hana-man deo juse-yo, Could you give me just one more, please, native numeral)
  • 더하기 ? (il deohagi ir-eun?, What's one plus one?, Sino-Korean numeral)

While older stages of Korean had native numerals up to the thousands, native numerals currently exist only up to ninety-nine, and Sino-Korean is used for all higher numbers. There is also a tendency—particularly among younger speakers—to uniformly use Sino-Korean numerals for the higher tens as well, so that native numerals such as 일흔 (ilheun, “seventy”) or 아흔 (aheun, “ninety”) are becoming less common.

Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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Sino-Korean word from (ball, sphere).

Pronunciation

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Romanizations
Revised Romanization?gu
Revised Romanization (translit.)?gu
McCune–Reischauer?ku
Yale Romanization?kwu

Noun

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(gu) (hanja )

  1. sphere
Derived terms
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See also
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  • (gong, ball)

Etymology 3

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Sino-Korean word from (former, old).

Pronunciation

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  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [ku(ː)]
  • Phonetic hangul: [(ː)]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.
Romanizations
Revised Romanization?gu
Revised Romanization (translit.)?gu
McCune–Reischauer?ku
Yale Romanization?kwū

Determiner

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(gu) (hanja )

  1. former; defunct
    Antonym: 신(新) (sin, new)
    시대gusidaeformer period; bygone period
    소련gu Soryeonthe former Soviet Union
Usage notes
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  • Before most common nouns, it is written without spaces as a prefix.
Derived terms
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Etymology 4

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Sino-Korean word from (area, district).

Pronunciation

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Romanizations
Revised Romanization?gu
Revised Romanization (translit.)?gu
McCune–Reischauer?ku
Yale Romanization?kwu

Noun

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(gu) (hanja )

  1. ward, district; administrative division of a large city.
Coordinate terms
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Derived terms
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Etymology 5

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Sino-Korean word from (classifier for coffins, corpses).

Pronunciation

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Romanizations
Revised Romanization?gu
Revised Romanization (translit.)?gu
McCune–Reischauer?ku
Yale Romanization?kwu

Counter

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(gu) (hanja )

  1. Used to count corpses.
Usage notes
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  • Usually takes native numerals.
Derived terms
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Proper noun

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(Gu) (hanja )

  1. a surname

Etymology 6

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Sino-Korean word from (mouth, hole).

Counter

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(gu) (hanja )

  1. (obsolete) Used to count family members.

Suffix

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—구 (-gu) (hanja )

  1. gateway
    출입(出入) (churip, coming and going) + ‎구(口) (gu) → ‎출입구(出入口) (churipgu, entrance/exit)
    비상(非常) (bisang, emergency) + ‎구(口) (gu) → ‎비상구(非常口) (bisanggu, emergency exit)

Derived terms

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Etymology 7

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Sino-Korean word from (tool).

Suffix

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—구 (-gu) (hanja )

  1. tool for...
Derived terms
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Etymology 8

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Sino-Korean word from .

Numeral

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(gu) (hanja )

  1. (rare) the number 1032
Derived terms
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Etymology 9

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Modern Korean reading of various Chinese characters.

Syllable

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(gu)